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The pioneering nature of Mediterranean pines and their phytosociological role have been largely discussed in relation to different agents (e.g., edaphic, climatic or anthropogenic). In this context, Aleppo pine is one of the most widespread pine species in the Mediterranean basin, as it is especially adapted to climatic constraints, such as drought and high seasonality, and has a high tolerance for salinity and strong coastal winds. It is also well adapted to regeneration after anthropogenic landscape disturbances, highlighting its important after-fire regeneration rates. In this sense, phytosociological studies conducted in Mediterranean landscapes have found that this species' wide distribution is mostly due to its rapid regeneration after human landscape transformation, including fire, and the abandonment of agricultural lands. Aleppo pine is considered to broadly develop after human action in sclerophyllous formation, in which it would be scarce or absent without human intervention. Parallel, paleoenvironmental and archaeobotanical studies have attempted to trace these trends back to prehistoric times to investigate this species' role in Late Pleistocene and Holocene vegetation and evaluate the role of climate and human action in its diachronic dynamics. In this study, we present a compendium of anthracological, dendro-anthracological and archaeopalyonological data with the objective of (i) investigating the nature and distribution of Aleppo pine on the island of Mallorca and (ii) evaluating the possibility that human action could have resulted in the spread of this pine species during the first two millennia of permanent human occupation of the island (c. 2300 cal. BCE–1st-century ACE). Investigating these archaeobotanical datasets, as well as making comparisons with anthracological and paleoenvironmental studies in neighbouring Mediterranean zones (Iberia), allowed us to attest that Aleppo pine is a natural, pre-human component of the Holocene vegetation of the island, and it is especially well-adapted to coastal environments. Moreover, we describe the trends and characteristics of the human management of pine woodlands through anthracology and dendro-anthracology, suggesting that human action did not provoke widespread growth of Aleppo pine in Mallorca at the expense of other vegetation types during prehistory. Such processes, well-documented by current phytosociological studies, probably began at some unknown point after the Romanisation of the island., This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (the work of LPG -IJCI-2015-24550- and GSV -IJCI-2016-30581- was founded by Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación fellowships), the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (projects HAR2015-67211-P, PID2019-108692 GB-I00 and HAR2017–83656P), and by the Direcció General de Innovació i Recerca of the Government of the Balearic Islands (project PRD2018/19). Andrés Currás was funded by the Galician Innovation Agency (GAIN).

Pollen and NPP analysis performed on the sedimentary deposits accumulated in the inter-tidal banks of the Tagus Estuary allow for the reconstruction of vegetation history and landscape changes that occurred in Lisbon from the 1st to the 6th century cal AD. The high chronological resolution of this investigation makes it possible to identify changes in human activities that took place during the Roman period and reveals the extent of land use in the 2nd century cal AD. However, the most considerable landscape transformation of this 600-year period dates back to the late 5th century cal AD, when significant deforestation and increasing human activity, particularly pasturing, spread throughout the territory. This feature bears witness to the outcome of a deep socioeconomic transformation following the disintegration of the Roman administration and sheds light on a poorly known period in this part of Iberia., This work was carried out within the framework of the Lisbon Stories project and supported by the Instituto Dom Luiz — IDL (UID/GEO/50019/2019).

The existence of a fire event at the Iron Age hillfort of Nabás, which is located on the southern bank of the Ría de Vigo (Galicia, NW of the Iberian Peninsula), favoured an extraordinary preservation of carbonised plant remains and offered an unusual opportunity to focus our research on the study of the final episode of a house life-cycle. The archaeobotanical approach focused on perishable materials combining charcoal, with carpology and pollen analysis, in tandem with a taphonomic assessment. The charcoal assemblage includes charcoal without signs of working, and wooden manufactures although the former group was probably related to the roof and timber of the round-house. This interpretation is based on the size and concentration of charcoal fragments, as well as the short taxonomic list (deciduous and evergreen Quercus sp., Fabaceae, Corylus avellana, Rosaceae/Maloideae, Salix/Populus, Alnus sp., Frangula alnus, Betula sp., Phragmites/Arundo and Ulmus sp.), and the recurrence of biological alterations such as xylophages’ galleries and hyphae. Aggregated grains and chaff of foxtail millet (Setaria italica) were found in several samples suggesting their storage, probably inside an organic container. Finally, pollen analysis offered clues about the uses of plants such as Ericaceae during the occupation phase of the round-house., María Martín-Seijo was funded by a Post-Doc Grant Plan I2C mod. B with the project “MATERIAL-Materiality and Material Culture: Wood and Other Plant-based Materials in Archaeological Contexts” and Andrés Currás was funded by the Xunta de Galicia under the GAIN Postdoctoral Program. The excavation of Nabás, led by MMS in 2006, was funded by the Consellería de Cultura-Xunta de Galicia (2006-CP035). Charcoal and carpological analyses were undertaken at the Laboratory of the Study Group for the Prehistory of NW Iberia-Archaeology, Antiquity and Territory (GEPN-AAT) and pollen analysis at the SERP-Universitat de Barcelona.

A multi-proxy investigation of sediment cores has enabled us to reconstruct the coastal environmental evolution of East-Central Corsica (the sites of Saint Florent, Piantarella-Bonifacio and Palo-Solenzara) for the last 8000 years. The analytical methods comprise pollen (five original pollen diagrams), weight loss-on-ignition measurements, laser granulometry, and ostracod identification. In addition, 26 radiocarbon dates are used to provide a robust chronostratigraphy for the sedimentary sequences. The assessment of coastal landscape dynamics enables us to define the major morphological changes and to evaluate the complex interplay between climatic forcing and anthropogenic activity on the vegetation history of Corsica, within an archaeological context, since the early Neolithic period (∼7.4 cal kyr BP). The major findings are that the first farmers reached Corsica by sea, and they encountered a coastal environment mainly composed of freshwater ponds located close to the shoreline. This specific paleoenvironmental feature offered a favourable location for agriculture and for the development of permanent settlements where a subsistence economy was developed. Since the Middle Holocene, postglacial sea-level rise has caused major changes in local coastal environments, often characterized by salt intrusion into freshwater bodies. At the transition between the Mid and Late Holocene (∼4.0 cal kyr BP), an increase in both salinity and aridity caused substantial landscape changes, mainly characterized by a further expansion of saline marshland, mainly occupied by Chenopodiaceae. The results also provide new insights into the role of Erica in the original Holocene vegetation of Corsica. Our data clearly indicate that an Erica arborea - Quercus ilex forest transition occurred before 6.3 cal kyr BP, significantly earlier than previously proposed. Finally, the earliest evidence of cereal cultivation is at ∼7350 cal kyr BP, and in addition we are better able to constrain the role of humans in the landscape dynamics of Corsica since the early Neolithic., JR is member of the research group GAPS (2017 SGR 836) and acknowledges postdoctoral fellowship support from the Spanish “Juan de la Cierva (FJC2017)” program (MICINN, Spain). This article is a contribution of the PCR “Approche géoarchéologique des paysages de Corse à l’Holocène, entre mer et intérieur des terres « Trà Mare è Monti »and “Bouches de Bonifacio” research programmes, funded by the DRAC Corsica and directed by Matthieu Ghilardi and Gaël Brkojewitsch, respectively. It is also part of the MISTRALS-PALEOMEX programme of CNRS (INEE-INSU scientific departments) and was funded by the ARCHEOMED workshop (Dir. Laurent Lespez). MV is funded by the Italian Ministry of Research (MIUR) through the Rita Levi Montalcini grant 2019–2021. AC is funded by the Galician Innovation Agency (GAIN) research grant. This study is a contribution to the MOPP-Medflood (INQUA CMP 1603P).

Amphibulima patula (Bruguiere, 1789) is a rare native terrestrial mollusc from Guadeloupe. The past distribution of this species, assessed by shells collected from archaeological sites, natural deposits or surface surveys, shows it previously had a wider distribution that extended across all the limestone islands of the Guadeloupe archipelago. Stratigraphical contexts and radiocarbon data suggest that the presence or abundance of A. patula is related to periods of wetter environmental or climatic conditions, indica-ting that environmental factors influenced past variations in the distribution of this species. Its limitation to rare ecological refuges in periods of dry climatic conditions, combined with human-induced landscape modifications, have led to significant reductions in the numbers of individuals of this species that is today threatened with extinction in the Guadeloupe Islands.

This paper aims to reconstruct the landscape evolution together with the vegetation history of the lower Sagone Valley, Western Corsica, which was occupied from the Bronze Age to the Medieval Period. Adopting a geoarchaeological approach, the combination of sedimentological, palynological, and geophysical data enables the reconstruction of various stages in the landscape evolution of the Lower Sagone River over the last 4000 years, together with the history of human occupation. The methods consist of a palaeoenvironmental study of 9 boreholes drilled in the modern deltaic plain, at a maximum distance of 500 m from the present-day shoreline. The laboratory analyses included mollusk identification and measurements of the grain-size distribution (by wet sieving). A series of 21 radiocarbon dates on charcoal, plant remains, wood fragments, and marine mollusk samples formed the basis for a chronostratigraphy. In order to reconstruct the vegetation history of the catchment, with particular attention to anthropogenic activity, pollen analysis was conducted on clay samples from the deepest borehole, and they revealed a semi-open forest during the Bronze Age and Late Iron Age with extensive pastoral activity and limited cereal cultivation. Electric Resistivity Tomography (ERT) of 3 profiles across the alluvial plain was conducted in order to reveal the geometry of the sedimentary bodies. The salient features are the presence of a freshwater lake during the Mid- to Late Bronze Age (from 1500 to 1100 cal. BCE), its transformation into an open marine bay from ca. 1100 until 500 cal. BCE, and the formation of a confined lagoon from 500 cal. BCE to 200 cal. CE.

International audience; A new dataset of 16 C-14 radiocarbon dates better constrains Relative Sea Level (RSL) changes in Corsica Island since the late Neolithic (similar to 3.6 ka BCE). Conflicting Holocene RSL histories between the northern and southern portions of Corsica coast are presently available in literature. Here we provide new RSL data obtained by sediment coring and beachrock analysis performed along the eastern coast of the island. These data, coupled with previously available ones, were compared with the predicted RSL variations modelled by means of the sea-level equation solver SELEN. Data from different coastal sectors of Corsica indicate a coherent pattern of RSL since the late Neolithic when the RSL was placed similar to 3.8 m below the present mean sea level. Then sea-level rose at rate of similar to 2 mm a(-1) in the Chalcolithic period (similar to 3.5 and similar to 2.3 ka BCE) followed by a significant deceleration with rates

The Aleria Del Sale lagoon in Eastern Corsica provides an excellent location for palaeoenvironmental research in order to better understand the palaeogeography of the island's coastline and to disentangle the role of human and natural factors in landscape evolution. A borehole drilled to a depth of 5.30 m was located a short distance from one of the most relevant archaeological sites on the island. Environmental reconstruction methodologies included mollusc identification, sedimentological and palynological analyses combined with robust chronological control provided by 8 radiocarbon dated samples allowing the reconstruction of the coastal lagoon and the surrounding vegetation history over the last 6 millennia. The Aleria Del Sale lagoon was formed around 3500 cal BCE, when sand bars linked to the deltaic progradation of the Tavignano River enclosed shallow marine waters. Pollen data reveals the existence of a semi-open landscape at this time in which human activity was widespread. The open lagoon shifted into a confined lagoonal system around 2200 cal BCE and this change in the feature was coeval with a notable decrease in human disturbance of the area and the end of the Chalcolithic Terrina occupation. The following period saw shrub and woodland regeneration and the brackish environment continued until the 19th century CE. Human activity did not have a significant impact on the vegetation until the Genoan Period. The evolution of the vegetation history and the diverse human activity across the Eastern Plain during the Bronze Age until the Genoan Period is furthermore explored in this paper. The uppermost layers of the lithostratigraphic sequence reflect the transformation of local conditions in response to recent (20th century) drainage operations.

De nombreux mégalithes anthropomorphes, datés de l’âge du Bronze final, ont été découverts sur la berge du Sagone mais aussi dans les fondations de la cathédrale médiévale de Sant’Appianu. Des questions relatives à la signi- fication symbolique de l’emplacement de ces statues-menhirs ont souvent été évoquées parmi lesquelles celle de la particularité paysagère, sans être réellement abordées du point de vue paléoenvironnemental. Plus tard, pendant l’époque romaine, un établissement est également attesté sur un replat granitique surplombant la basse vallée du fleuve, ce qui laisse entrevoir une configuration différente du trait de côte et du réseau hydrographique au début de notre ère. Afin de pouvoir mieux comprendre les relations entre les dynamiques d’occupation humaine et l’évo- lution diachronique des paysages, neuf carottages ont été réalisés dans la basse vallée du Sagone. Une chronos- tratigraphie de référence a ainsi pu être établie grâce à la datation par le radiocarbone de vingt et un échantillons. Les principaux résultats de cette étude révèlent pour la première fois l’existence d’un ancien marais continental daté de la fin de l’âge du Bronze (synchrone de l’implantation des mégalithes), au nord du replat de Sant’Appianu, marais qui a ensuite été envahi par les eaux marines entre ~ 1000 et 800 av. J.-C. Entre 800 et 50 avant notre ère, une progradation deltaïque du Sagone s’amorce ensuite depuis le NE vers le SO. Enfin, pendant l’époque romaine, un étroit bras de mer existe toujours au pied du replat de Sant’Appianu, laissant ainsi le passage à d’éventuelles embarcations à faible tirant d’eau.

Los estudios arqueobotanicos no han tenido en el area gallega un gran desarrollo en yacimientos medievalesexceptuando algunos analisis antracologicos. Tampoco ha sido habitual la aplicacion de metodos deidentificacion de polen y fitolitos para estructuras tipo silos, no solo para esta epoca sino en la investigacionarqueologica del NW peninsular en general. El hallazgo de varias fosas en el contexto de la intervencionarqueologica de los Grandes Almacenes El Pilar (Santiago de Compostela, Galicia) constituye un interesantepunto de partida para la aplicacion de este tipo analisis contextualizado en un momento importantedel desarrollo de la ciudad de Santiago, el proceso de crecimiento del burgo en la transicion de la Alta ala Baja Edad Media. Este estudio aporta datos que ayudan a interpretar el uso concreto de las estructurasexcavadas – como estructuras de almacenaje de trigo –, que dificilmente se podria haber establecido tansolo a partir de la tipologia de dichas estructuras. The archaeological excavation of Grandes Almacenes El Pilar (Santiago de Compostela, Spain): an archaeobotanicalstudy of medieval storage pits.The use of archaeobotanical studies in medieval archaeological sites from Galicia, is not usual, exceptfor occasional charcoal analyses. Pollen and phytolith identification in relation to storage pits is also rare,not only for this period but also for archaeological research in NW Iberia in general. The identification ofseveral pits in the archaeological site of Grandes Almacenes El Pilar (Santiago de Compostela, Galicia)offered the opportunity to apply these types of analyses and in this way shed more light on the use ofthese structures at the end of the Early Medieval period in Santiago, a time when the city was developingand expanding. This study provides new information on the use of these features as storage pits forwheat, and shows the potential of pollen and phytolith analyses in complementing typological studiesand aiding in interpretation.